Hurricane Michael is expected to make landfall along the Florida Panhandle as a Category 4 storm with 145 miles per hour winds later today, marking the first storm of that strength to hit the Panhandle in recorded history.

Corelogic noted the compact nature of hurricane Michael, which will have limited the size of the swathe of damage on landfall, but the storm surge has impacted a wide area from Mobile, AL to Tampa, FL, with the maximum storm surge anticipated to be east of Panama City to coastal cities south of Tallahassee, the firm said.

Authorities said at least two people have died, a man killed by a tree falling on a Panhandle home and according to WMAZ-TV, an 11-year-old girl was also killed by a tree falling on a home in southwest Georgia.

Michael is now a tropical storm and, as of Thursday morning, was pushing its way across SC - while also lashing North Carolina and Virginia with strong winds and heavy rains amid a tornado threat.

The storm, which had caught many by surprise with its rapid intensification as it churned north over the Gulf of Mexico, made landfall north-west of the town of Mexico Beach at about 1:40 pm (local time) as a category four hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale. She said she could smell the pine from snapped tree branches. The lead-gray water was so high that roofs were about all that could be seen of many homes.

Hurricane Michael is now moving northeast with maximum sustained winds of 90 miles per hour.

Officials at the Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City said dozens of trees and power lines went down, and several buildings lost their roofs across the military base.

A woman checks on her vehicle as Hurricane Michael passes through in Panama City Beach, Fla., Oct. 10, 2018.

Part of the reason Hurricane Michael became so strong and developed so quickly is that the waters of the Gulf of Mexico are much warmer right now than what's normal for October.

Winds gusts of around 60 miles per hour were reported in towns near the Georgia-Alabama border, according to the National Weather Service.

-Strorm riders: Roughly 375,000 people in Florida warned to evacuate; many refused.

About 3,500 Florida National Guard troops were deployed, along with more than 1,000 search-and-rescue personnel, Governor Scott said. "The historical record, going back to 1851, finds no Category-4 hurricane ever hitting the Florida Panhandle". "THIS IS A WORST CASE SCENARIO for the Florida Panhandle!" the agency tweeted.

The Carolinas are still recovering from Hurricane Florence, which left dozens dead and is estimated to have caused billions of dollars in damage last month.

The most significant risks for the region are flash flooding in the Interstate 77 corridor, including metro Charlotte, and potentially damaging wind.

Past year saw a string of catastrophic storms batter the western Atlantic - including Irma, Maria and Harvey, which caused a record-equaling $125 billion in damage when it flooded the Houston metropolitan area.

As the hurricane moves out of Florida, Scott warned that flash floods and tornadoes are still possibilities and said "the weather is still extremely risky".